Friends can't die if you don't have any
by The Cabbage man's legacy
Summary: Oneshot.Gintoki finds himself increasingly alone in the war. Soon it seems that only Katsura is left. My own interpretation of why Gintoki leaves the war and a few events that lead up to it.


The young, silver haired man sat in silence as he watched the rest of the squadren bicker.

"We can still fight!" a man with long hair implored as he tried to rally up the other men but they didn't seem very willing to listen.

"The castle has fallen and more of the Amanto are arriving through the terminal everyday!" another man argued "this is a losing battle; we're not going to win Katsura!" said the man as he stared back at katsura defiantly, most of the group standing behind him as backing.

"Come on Gintoki" said Katsura as he motioned towards silver haired man for support "tell them this is nonsense! Tell them we need to fight!" he seemed to look at his friend almost desperately; he knew the group wouldn't follow him unless he had Gintoki's backing.

Gintoki slowly stood up, his hand now resting atop the handle of his blade "let them do whatever they want" he said with a strange smile on his face as he walked past them, he could no longer see any of the men's faces "but don't think I'll cover your backs while you're running away!" suddenly he charged forward and everyone realised they were surrounded by foes.

* * *

"Thanks for today Gintoki" said Katsura as he placed a hand on his shoulder waking him from his thoughts "You really motivated them with what you said, everyone's fired up now thanks to you" Gintoki just snorted ungratefully, still unpleased with the Amantos timing, he really had wished they'd just run away.

"I didn't say it for you Tsura, I never even imagined they'd get so wild, they were almost like high schoolers who were about to confess for the first time" he said boredly. After a few moments he turned around from his position on the grass, wasn't Tsura going to correct him?

"It's Katsura, not Tsura!" Tsura suddenly added as though Gintoki's glance had reminded him. He'd been too caught up in thoughts about Gintoki's unconventional piece of wisdom. It was strange he always mentioned high school; it was probably because Gintoki had never had the chance to go himself.

"Sometimes I envy you Gin-san" said Tsura as he sat down besides Gintoki "Everyone here respects you because of your strength and sometimes I wish I could be as calm as you are, as composed" Gintoki looked at his friend evenly; he was surprised his friend saw him that way.

"I don't know Tsura, maybe if you cut your hair it would prevent them from fantasying about you as a woman" he couldn't help but joke; he'd never been good at being serious.

"It's Katsura! And you shouldn't say that, everyone in this squadron reveres you, your name is spreading fast, far beyong our group, even into the ranks of the enemy" Katsura didn't continue, he didn't want to mention _what _name was so well known.

Gintoki just laid back onto the ground "For now I don't want to think of petty things like war, I want to find a shooting star which will make my hair straight" Katsura stood up in disgust, it was hard for him to understand his friend when their views were so different.

* * *

Gintoki and Katsura stood side by side, panting hard; they were surrounded and on their own.

"We should commit Seppuku and die with honour!" Katsura whispered to his companion but instead Gintoki rushed forward, racing as his sword plunged into the nearest Amanto.

"Instead of dying, why don't you try living beautifully instead?" Gintoki yelled as he began to slash at his opponents, blood completely staining his white clothes.

Katsura was now fighting besides him, driven forwards by Gintoki's words and finally seeing where the nickname had come from when his friend had been named _white demon. _

* * *

Silently Gintoki watched as the group argued once again about the merits of fighting this ever losing war, though this time they had wisely chosen not to fight when they were just about to enter the battle field. Tsura fought back as fiercely as ever and Gintoki couldn't help but remember the day before when he had almost seen his closest friend die before his eyes.

This argument was stupid and he had known that for a long time. He understood what the man against Tsura was saying, even though he couldn't remember his name. He couldn't remember a single face on his squadron besides Katsura's, all his other friends had either disappeared or died and the ones he had made quickly fell in to the two categories he had just mentioned. Right now he had no one to fight for besides himself. Katsura had a country behind him which was probably why he kept moving but right then he had no one and he wasn't particulary in the mood to see his last friend die.

It was time to leave. He pulled himself off the ground and dropped something heavy onto the bloody grass, then just simply walked away.

"Hey Gintoki, you agree with me right?" Katsura asked, as usual asking for his friends backing, but when he turned around no one was there; nothing besides a katana, covered in dried blood.

* * *

It didn't take long after that, quickly the group disbanded; it seemed that only one person had been keeping them together, though many had never even learnt his real name. One thing was for sure, they never would have lasted for so long if it hadn't been for that one person, _the white demon._

Even though Gintoki had never really cared for it, it had always, and always would remain _his _team.

* * *

**A very short piece but its something I've been wanting to do for a while now, even if I just wrote it on the spur of the moment. There are sure to be mistakes so please point them out. I've never used the horizontal ruler before, so it was a different style of writing for me . Thoese lines make it so much easier to make a story progress so I hope to use them more often in the future so I can get used to them and make the transition less awkward. There was a part where I quoted Gintoki and Katsura from the manga, I couldn't be bothered to look it up so I hope I managed to quote it somewhat accurately.**

**Please review if you have the time.**


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